Pounding the streets: Cabbie buys house for just £1 as part of new regeneration scheme

House price: A property in Liverpool has been sold for £1 as part of a regeneration scheme (Image: PA)

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A MARRIED taxi driver has become the first person to buy a house for £1 under a groundbreaking scheme

Jayalal Madde, 48, is one of 10 people to so far benefit from a council decision to sell off 20 homes in a failed regeneration zone where they once sold for £70,000.

As part of the deal, Mr Madde must bring the house in Granby, Liverpool, up to scratch in a year.

Father-of-two Mr Madde, 48, has arranged finances for the refurbishment - including raising cash with his local credit union - and now has 12 months to make the property up to Decent Homes Standard so he and his family can move in.

The scheme attracted a huge response with more than 1,000 people applying for one of the 20 properties in the Granby Four Streets, Arnside Road and Webster Triangle East areas of the city.

Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, said: “I’m delighted to be officially handing over the keys to the first recipient of a home for a pound.

“We’ve had an amazing response to this scheme and have been absolutely inundated with applications, so to already be in a position to allocate the first 10 homes is fantastic.

“We are only looking for people who have a genuine commitment to bringing these properties back to life and turning them into a home they are proud to live in.

“It mustn’t be forgotten that bringing these houses up to a decent standard will be a real challenge. Those who are successful in obtaining a house will have to put in a lot of hard work, as well as their own finances. But we’ll be there to support

them in any way we can.”

The initiative aims to get people onto the property ladder and will bring 1,000 empty homes in Liverpool back into use.

Mayor Anderson added: “Properties in these areas have lain empty for too long - but in tough economic times, we need to be creative and look at doing things differently.